Dating You / Hating You Review

Storyline

Evelyn Abbey. Evie Abbey. Evil Abbey. All the same person. Evie is an agent at Price & Dickle Feature department. She’s 33 years old and single. In any case, how can an agent not be single, really? After the crazy work hours, the constant phone calls, and the no personal life? Of course, Evie is single and of course she’s already almost giving up looking for somebody special.

Fate begs to differ though. At her friend’s halloween party, Evie meets Carter Aaron, whom she finds handsome at first, but then learns that not only is he an agent himself, he also works at CTM, “the rival company”. So obviously, Carter is No. Relationship is a hard work, let alone one with another agent. Really, No. But can Evie really say No to such a beautiful attractive man like Carter? Cause after the flirting teasing bit they had at the party, Evie really can’t shake him off her mind. What’s worse is she even starts to entertain the possibility of working a somewhat relationship with Carter. Like, if there’s any way to make Carter and herself work.

Until.

This morning. When Evie finds out that Price & Dickle and CTM are being merged. Which means she and Carter would be colleagues. Wait, no. They, would be a part of a nasty, nasty competition. And things are absolutely getting much worse when Evie’s asshole boss, Brad Kingman, maliciously pits Evie and Carter to fight for one spot, insinuating that there’ll be only one place for their position, so “he’s afraid” one of them will have to go. To New York, “probably”.

The competition is on. So sorry not sorry, Evie is gone, and boom, Evil is there.

The hard-earned job versus probably once in a lifetime relationship. Will a relationship with possibly the right person worth losing Evie’s precious job?

Comments

Dating You / Hating You is seriously Bridewars mishmashed with The Devil Wears Prada stuff. The pranks obviously reminded me of Bridewars, which were funny and ridiculous. You people are grown-asses, so act like it!-stuff *lol* And the asshole boss, “Brat” Kingman made me recall Meryl Streep’s mean boss vibe. This book was such a fun-read in romcom kind of way.

But belied under the fun layer of it, this book actually brings out an important message which involves sexism.

Gender inequality probably exists beyond Hollywood, or anywhere really, but within the Hollywood it’s just as thick as blood. As mentioned in the book, disparity in pays is huge between male and female workers. Which some real testimony here and there would testify that, I bet. And as if like that’s not bad enough, numbers of male bosses still find the urge to treat their female subordinates with condescending and patronizing manner. Well depicted in “Brat” Kingman in this book. Again, people would easily give evidence to that I wage. Which tastes so ancient to be done in 2019 –or must I say 2020—, really.

But this is a real situation, and a novel is just one of various platforms that can help people to come to awareness to any kind of cause. Cause the more people who are aware of it, the more pressure can be spread to avoid the same fallback from re-occurring. So keep reading, and keep spreading, Nerdies!

This book is nothing but a job well-done. The politics in the company is vividly portrayed, letting the readers understand Evie’s situation perfectly, as a thriving female worker in a masculine-minded company, —and essentially TV world— and especially under a douchey boss. It’s also fun to read a smart and independent woman like Evie trying to wriggle away from the suffocating work pressure as she tries to find a room for her heart. When the ending finally came, I was touched. The closure meted out to everybody was all reasonable and fitting.

Including for Brat. That one was delicately wrapped, btw.

Just a small note, I loved how the male and female switching storytelling style is done loosely in this book. Evie would tell the story from her side through as many chapters as she needs, and Carter would do jsut the same. And to a reader, that felt liberating. It’s like watching a writer writing a novel with her one foot outside of the normalcy box, and that felt freaking freeing.

Welcome!

Hi, my name is Carissa. I’m a married lady who comes from an archipelago near the south end of Asia continent called Indonesia. Against the widely spread stereotype, I am not a maid, nor an illegal immigrant. I live my life just like you guys do. I read, I write, and I sketch. Enjoy!